Four election observers sent to prison in Belarus - Europe - International Herald Tribune

MOSCOW — A court in Belarus on Friday convicted four election observers whose arrests in February foreshadowed a broad crackdown after the disputed re-election of President Aleksandr Lukashenko.

The observers, leaders of an American-financed organization called Partnership, received prison sentences ranging from six months to two years under a law adopted late last year to restrict public protests.

Formally, they faced charges of membership in an unlawful organization, though on the eve of the election in March the head of the country's security agency publicly accused them of plotting a coup.

Since the election, in which Lukashenko received 82 percent of the vote according to official results, the authorities have arrested scores of protesters and political leaders opposed to Lukashenko.

Another challenger, Aleksandr Milinkevich, who himself has been arrested and jailed for brief periods since March, criticized the verdict on Friday as a "political execution" of those simply trying to hold the government's electoral behavior to account. "This trial demonstrates the arbitrariness of administrative and command rule and the complete absence of any control over the power," Milinkevich said in a statement.

Partnership gained prominence for organizing election observers during elections in 2004 for a new Parliament and a referendum that allows Lukashenko to seek reelection indefinitely. The group received money from the National Democratic Institute, whose representative for Belarus, David Hamilton, was also accused by the authorities of participating in the coup plot.

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The government refused to register the group legally and raided an organizational meeting last year, arresting dozens of members.

The four convicted on Friday - Nikolai Astreiko, Timofei Dranchuk, Aleksandr Shalaiko and Enira Bronitskaya - were leaders of the group whose arrests in February effectively disrupted plans to observe the presidential election, which was roundly denounced by the United States and Europe as a fraud.

The Belgian foreign minister, Karel De Gucht, criticized the case, citing the nature of the charges and the murky circumstances of the trial, which was held behind closed doors.

"I believe it is a mistake to add even more individuals to an already extensive list of politically motivated convictions," De Gucht, who also serves as the chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said in a statement Friday.

The United States and Europe have sanctioned Lukashenko and members of the government in protest, imposing a ban on travel for many senior officials and a freeze on their assets abroad.